“Ah?!”
Ninth Brother heard this and trembled, the terror in his eyes clearly visible.
Pan Hu’s impression of Ninth Brother was confirmed—he was nothing but a spineless coward who loved to brag.
His disdain grew, but for now, the man was the only way to learn about the Ling residence in the short term.
“What, didn’t you say you’d agree to anything? Didn’t you pat your chest and give your word? Why have you shriveled up the moment you heard this request?”
Pan Hu sneered as he pressed for an answer.
“Brother, my dear big brother!”
Ninth Brother ignored the pain in his body and knelt on the spot.
“I… I really can’t do this.”
Pan Hu raised an eyebrow.
“Why? Still have feelings for that little young master of the Ling family?”
“How could I?!”
Ninth Brother’s expression shifted, and he immediately spoke with resentment.
“I’ve hated that little bastard for a long time. He treats us servants like dirt, hitting us or throwing us out whenever he feels like it. On the surface, he looks like a decent person, but behind the scenes, he’s mean and ungrateful. He relies on his family’s stinking money and a few cultivator guards to act like a tyrant in Green Wood City! Brother Hu, my cultivation is low. Going to kill Ling Huan is just seeking death! You have no idea how tight the security at the Ling residence is!”
“Oh? How tight? Tell me about it. We need to know the enemy to find an opportunity, right? Maybe… I can help you?”
“Brother Hu, you don’t understand! The Ling residence guards… they aren’t pushovers! Just the guards on rotation, counting the front and back courtyards, there are at least… uh, five! They’re all cultivators! Every single one is stronger than me!”
“Seven?”
Pan Hu’s eyes narrowed instantly, but his expression remained calm.
“What’s their strength? Who’s the strongest?”
“The strongest… the strongest should be Old Zhao. He’s probably at Level 8 Qi Refining? He’s very powerful! Then there are several core members at Level 6 or 7, and the rest are at Level 3 or 4, similar to me, but they’re all skilled!”
To prove his value as quickly as possible, Ninth Brother spoke very fast.
Listening to Ninth Brother’s “intelligence,” Pan Hu’s face remained calm, but his heart burned with rage.
‘This kid is lying!’
‘This kid isn’t being sincere, or rather, this might be a trap!’
While he had been observing Ninth Brother, the Lady seemed to have already planted a Yue Anqian in the Ling residence long ago.
She had given him a Bloodline Drum to inform him of the guard configuration.
They had already agreed on secret signals via letters.
The two drums could synchronize vibrations over long distances, conveying messages based on the drumbeats.
First, the number of guards would be signaled, followed by three short drumbeats to switch to cultivation levels, which were then transmitted from highest to lowest.
Although it wasn’t clear who was who, they at least had the configuration.
They could investigate the specifics slowly later.
According to the message from the Bloodline Drum, the Ling family clearly had twenty guards!
The highest among them should be at the half-step Foundation Establishment stage!
Several elite core members were at Level 8 or 9, and even the weakest were at Level 6 or 7!
But this Ninth Brother was bold enough to claim there were only five people!
Pan Hu understood in an instant.
Everything before this—Ninth Brother’s pathetic state, being chased and beaten by the gambling den, his desperate begging, and even that speech about “hating” Ling Huan… it was all a damn carefully designed ruse!
Even if it wasn’t, it didn’t matter.
The fact that he was playing tricks regarding this information meant he was untrustworthy—an ungrateful villain.
A cold killing intent almost spilled from Pan Hu’s eyes.
He really wanted to snap the neck of this lying coward right now.
However, he couldn’t do it.
He was just a servant, a man who carried out orders.
Strategic decisions had to be left to the Lady.
So, he put on an “understanding” expression, even adding a touch of regret.
“Tsk, if that’s the case, it really is hard to strike. Your meager cultivation truly isn’t enough.”
Hearing this, Ninth Brother nodded hastily.
“Brother Hu is wise! It’s not that I’m unwilling, I really just can’t do it!”
“Killing Ling Huan is indeed asking too much of you. Come to the tavern in the south of the city tonight. I’ll tell you what I actually want to do.”
As soon as Pan Hu finished speaking, he prepared to leave.
“Brother Hu! I still don’t know where you’re from…?”
“Black Wind Hall.”
Leaving only that name behind, Pan Hu strode away.
….
Pan Hu returned to the underground stronghold of the Black Wind Hall.
Passing through the winding secret tunnels, he arrived once again at the massive, unfinished cave.
Yue Qingfeng was still standing on the high platform, supervising the work.
“Lady!”
Pan Hu knelt on one knee, his voice carrying an irrepressible urgency and anger.
“I have returned! That Ninth Brother is indeed a trap! He’s full of lies!”
He quickly reported how Ninth Brother’s “intelligence” regarding the number and strength of the Ling residence guards contradicted the true information he had received through the Bloodline Drum.
“As expected.”
Her red lips parted slightly as she breathed out those two light words, looking as if she had already seen through everything.
This unexpectedly calm reaction left Pan Hu stunned.
“As expected?”
He repeated with confusion, his face full of bewilderment.
“Lady… you… you already knew?”
“Pan Hu,” Yue Qingfeng curled her lips into a faint smile, “this game of chess is a bit more complicated than what you see. Ninth Brother is an undercover agent, a ruse — someone knows this better than you, and they told me even earlier.”
“Ah?”
Pan Hu was completely baffled.
“Who? Who else is watching the Ling family? Could it be… the person who sent me the intelligence?”
“Exactly. That informant isn’t just watching the Ling family; she is one of the Ling family’s own. Or rather, she is by Ling Huan’s side.”
“Just as you began monitoring Ninth Brother, she took the initiative to find me, coming to the Black Wind Hall all by herself. And none of you noticed her.”
“I… I am incompetent!”
“It’s fine. If you could find her, then those Ling family guards could naturally find her too. This is actually a good thing. She said Ninth Brother is a pawn carefully planned by Ling Huan.”
“The purpose of this ruse was to infiltrate our internal ranks so they could strike first when we planned a surprise attack. Although it’s beyond my expectations that Ling Huan could come up with this at only ten years old, he is still just a child in the end. He’s too green. This plan is full of holes and is utterly foolish.”
“Lady, who… who is this person? Can her words be trusted?” Pan Hu frowned.
“She can. You should know that the look of hating someone cannot be faked. The Bloodline Drum cannot only transmit sounds across a thousand miles, it can also reflect emotions truthfully. As for her credibility… isn’t the enemy of my enemy my best friend? At the very least, she is a useful tool.”
Her gaze shifted toward the dark entrance of the cave, as if she could pierce through layers of rock to see the figure lurking deep within the Ling residence.
“As for her name…”
Yue Qingfeng’s voice echoed clearly in the cave, carrying a hint of cold resolve, “She is called Yin Luoling. She wants Ling Huan dead. Whether she wants the family property or something else, I don’t care. Only her emotions were real, without a hint of falsehood. Sigh, this is what happens when one cultivates demonic arts. You can’t feel any of the good things, only the negative emotions.”
Yue Qingfeng sighed softly but immediately instructed, “Since that’s the case, let’s use Black Wind Hall to play with him. Arrange for that Ninth Brother to enter the Black Wind Hall.”
‘How boring,’ Yue Qingfeng thought, wondering when the heavens would finally bring some turbulence to her smooth-sailing life.